iSub For Sam
by Sideshow Bob Roberts
Summary: When Sam gets sick and can't do iCarly, Carly needs to find a replacement for Sam on the show for an episode. And who better than her own brother, Spencer!
1. Chapter 1

**iSub For Sam**

Carly paces around her apartment, sipping water from her bottle nervously. She goes around the couch, over to the fridge and back. She checks her watch and resumes pacing.

Freddie comes down the stairs and looks around. He shakes his head a bit. "She's not here yet?"

Carly briefly stops to answer Freddie's question. "No, Sam's still not here yet." Carly resumes pacing and sipping. "Where is she?" She almost bumps into Freddie as he comes down the stairs.

Freddie walks over to the couch and sits down. "Nervous?"

"I don't know, I'm pacing and rapidly sipping water, what do you think?" She sips her water and paces around some more.

Freddie goes back to the matter at hand. "This is just like Sam, iCarly is supposed to go on the air in 30 minutes and she's at home probably eating a sandwich!"

"Freddie, be nice." Carly defends her best friend, even though what Freddie says is possibly true. "She's probably yelling at her mom or stuck in traffic." Carly hears the sound of the door opening behind her. "You're here!" She spins around and sees Spencer in the doorway. She pouts. "Oh, it's just you."

Spencer, feeling slightly insulted by this, responds quietly. "Hello to you too." He shuts the door and walks to the kitchen.

Carly follows her brother. "Sorry, it's just that Sam is late and it's almost time for iCarly to start. And I'm nervous and running out of water!" She sits down and sets the almost empty bottle of water next to her.

"Oh, that's not good." Spencer says as he picks up a banana and sniffs it for some reason.

Carly slams her hands on the counter. "You're telling me!" The phone rings.

Spencer reaches for it but Carly jumps for it right as he is about to grab it. He draws back slowly and peels his banana.

Freddie, wondering why on earth Spencer sniffed the un-peeled fruit, feels the need to question this. "Did you sniff your banana?"

"I like the smell..." Spencer sounds a bit ashamed because of this.

Carly whispers quietly, "Please be her, please be her." Carly pushes a button on the phone. "Sam?"

"It's me." Sam says on the other end.

Carly jumps off the stool. "Well, it's about time!!"

Sam pauses. "Well, hello to you too." She says, feeling insulted like Spencer was earlier.

Carly ignores this and continues being angry. "Where are you?"

"I'm at home."

Freddie sits up. "Where is she?"

Carly puts the phone to her side. "She's at home."

"I knew it!" Freddie says, jumping up. "Let me guess: She's eating a big, fat sub sandwich right?"

Sam hears this and prepares to respond in her usual manner. "May I speak to Fredward, please?" She says calmly.

Carly walks over to Freddie and hands him the phone.

"Where are you," Freddie yells. "we've been--"

Sam, for her revenge on Freddie, blows an air horn into her end of the phone, causing Freddie to drop the phone and fall onto the couch. "For you information I'm sick, computer boy!"

Carly walks over and picks up the phone. "You're sick? You can't be sick, it's iCarly night!! No sick!"

"Sorry, Carls." Sam loudly blows her nose. "You'll have to do it by yourself tonight."

"By myself? I can't do it by myself! I need a quirky assistant! You're the quirkiest!!"

"I can do it." Freddie offers as he rubs his ear. Who better than the _other_ person who is always there.

"May I speak to Fredward again, please?" Sam says, irritated.

"Sam, focus! What are we going to do?!" Carly shouts.

Spencer puts down the banana. "You know, I could do it if you want. I'm not doing anything."

"That's a great idea!" Sam and Carly say at the same time.

"Why can't I do it?" Freddie asks, feeling a little rejected and angry.

Carly holds the phone out, knowing what Sam is going to say.

"Because you're the King of the Nubs!" She uses the air horn again.

Carly puts the phone to her ear again. "So are you going to at least watch the show?"

"Of course!" Sam replies. "If my mom doesn't start yelling at the dog again."

"You don't have a dog." Carly says, confused.

"Yeah, that's what makes it even weirder. I gotta go, see ya on the web, girl!" Sam hangs up.

Carly puts the phone back on the receiver. "Spencer, you're on!"

"Great!" He starts to run to his room, laughing.

Freddie looks over and sees Spencer running. "Where are you going?"

"I gotta change!"

"You're fine like that. iCarly isn't exactly a dress up occasion!" Carly explains.

"No, my socks! I gotta go get my lucky socks!"

Freddie stares at him, slightly shocked. "You have lucky socks?"

"Yeah! They're the first pair that Socko ever gave me. I'll show 'em to you!" Spencer runs to his room.

"Your brother," Freddie thinks for a second, trying to find the right words. Something that won't insult, but is still true. "I question him sometimes."

Carly smiles. "Yeah, but I got used to it."

"Found 'em!" Spencer yells from his room. He runs out of his room, almost tripping as he does, holding a pair of purple socks in the air. They are bright, dazzling purple, with streaks of yellow. "Huh?" He pushes a button and they light up in all different colors.

"They're...colorful." Freddie says.

"And lucky!" Spencer replies.

Carly adds her opinion on these so-called lucky socks. "Very lucky."

"Only the luckiest!!"

"Can we stop saying lucky now?"

"Sure." Spencer starts to run to his room. "I get to be on iCarly again! Today's my lu--" Spencer started to say lucky. "perfect...day...I'm going to go change now!!" Spencer runs to his room.

Carly and Freddie look at each other and laugh.


	2. Chapter 2

Thirty minutes later, in the iCarly studio, Spencer and Carly get ready to go on the air. They stand in the middle of the room, talking.

"Ready, Spencer?" Carly asks Spencer, who is adjusting his socks. "You're not nervous, are you?"

Spencer pops up, almost hitting his sister. "Nope. Nervous, why would I be nervous. I'm not nervous. Who's nervous, not me." He laughs nervously.

Carly stares at him for a few seconds. "You sure said nervous a lot for someone who claims they're not nervous."

Spencer's eyes bounce around the room a bit. "I guess I like that word."

Carly stands on her tippy-toes and wipes sweat off his forehead. "And you're sweating a lot."

"I...I like to sweat." He quickly turns to Freddie. "Almost ready, Fred-o?"

Freddie smiles and steps away from the computer. "Let's start the show." Freddie picks up his camera and walks to the filming point. "And you're on in 5, 4, 3, 2," He signals them to go.

Carly starts the show as usual. "Hello there Internet lovers! My name is Carly!"

Spencer leans in. "And I'm Spencer!" And he leans out of the shot shortly after.

"I know what you're thinking: 'Did Sam change her name, grow a few feet and change genders?' Well, the answers no. This is my brother, Spencer Shay." Carly points to Spencer, who decides to pose in a somewhat manly fashion. "Sam called in sick today and Spencer volunteered to take her place for today's show."

Spencer walks up to the camera and practically puts his face on it. "And have we got a great show today!"

"But first, we have a video," Carly pulls Spencer back and resumes what she was saying. "A video for you. This one was dedicated to Spencer, so we thought we'd show it since he's here."

"Aww, I'm so loved." Spencer turns to the monitor.

On it is a boy about the age of 11, standing next to a sculpture of a cat. "Hey there Carly and Sam. I love your brother Spencer. So I dedicate this sculpture to him! I call it, Mr. Freckles." A few scared meows can be heard coming from inside the sculpture.

Carly and Spencer stare at the screen, worried for the cat inside.

The boy laughs. "Pay no attention to the meowing behind the clay! Love you guys!" The monitor moves back into the wall.

"Okay," Carly slowly says. "That's what I call Still Life artwork!"

"Now," Carly looks over as the elevator reaches the top. "Spencer has a fixed one of his creations. Remember that crazy bot that got a robo-wedgie courtesy of Sam?" Freddie moves the camera back a bit. "Well, Spencer and Freddie fixed all the bugs, hopefully. Here is Spencer and Spence-bot 2.0!" She claps a bit for Spencer, signaling him to come in.

Spencer and his robot walk on camera. "Thank you, Carly. The Spence-bot here is completely functional in the walking and talking sense." Spencer turns to the robot. "Spence-bot, say hello to the audience."

The Spence-bot beeps a bit then speaks. "Hola."

Carly, wondering why it spoke spanish, questions this. "It speaks Spanish?"

"Apparently." Spencer turns to Freddie. "Freddie, which chip did you put in? The blue or the yellow?"

Freddie lowers the camera in thought, then pulls it up when he remembers which chip. "The yellow, why?"

"Ah, that would be the Spanish chip. Well, no harm done." Suddenly, the Spence-bot starts choking Spencer without warning. "Harm being done! Harm being done!" Spencer shouts as he is shaken violently by the robot. "Carly, push the," Spencer makes a series of unintelligible noises. "button."

She looks around the robot's back, trying to save Spencer's life. "The 'achhhh' button? I don't see an 'achhhhh' button!"

"No the," Spencer can't speak as the robot squeezes harder. He makes a buzzing noise and imitates a bug landing on his arm. He flicks the imaginary bug off.

"Off button!" Carly sees this button and pushes it. The robot falls to the ground.

"Okay, a few more bugs to work out." Spencer rubs his throat in agony. "But at least his head didn't--" Spencer was about to say 'explode', but the robot's head did just that. It exploded. "Never mind." Spencer grabs the robot by the legs and slowly drags it off camera.

Carly just shrugs her shoulders at the camera.

Spencer's sobs can be heard as he enters the elevator off camera.

"And now we've got a surprise for all of you." Carly says to the audience. "We felt bad that Sam couldn't be here today, so,"

"We're going to get her on this cool TV screen and talk to her!" Spencer says as he walks over to Freddie. "Freddie is going to access her web cam and then we'll see her on the screen. Isn't that cool! Fred-o, go!" Spencer slaps Freddie on the back, making him jump a bit.

Freddie pushes a button on the computer. The monitor moves out and turns on. On the monitor appears a room with pink walls. The bed is also pink. On a nightstand next to the bed is a picture of Freddie that is framed.

Freddie sees the picture and starts making gagging noises. But in his head, _"Sam __likes__ me?! Well, this is awkward. I knew there was a reason to all the bullying and torture. She isn't such a sick person after all! She's actually sort of...attractive now."_

"Well, that's her room, but where's--"

A toilet flushes off camera in the room and Sam walks on and sits on the bed, not knowing she is being watched. She picks up the picture and kisses it.

"Of course." Freddie says, unsurprised at her making such an entrance. _"Oh...okay. That's sorta obsessive."_

Carly turns to Freddie to ask him a question. "Can she hear us?"

Freddie clears his throat, somewhat at a loss for words at Sam's new found affection for Freddie. "I--I think so, why don't you try it?"

"Hey Sam!" Spencer shouts loudly.

Sam jumps a bit and looks around. She looks at her computer and sees herself on iCarly, in her room. She quickly knocks the photo of Freddie off the nightstand and smiles. "Hi...why am I on iCarly right now?"

"We thought we'd check in on you, feeling any better?" Carly asks.

"A little," Sam blows her nose loudly again. "I'm guessing this was Freddie's doing?"

Freddie looks over at the screen. "Yeah, I did it. So?" _"What are you going to do, come over here and kiss me?"_ He says mockingly in his head.

"That's all I needed to know." Sam gets up and slams the computer shut and throws the web cam into the bathroom.

"Well, that was a lovely goodbye." Carly says sarcastically.

"She has anger issues, yeah." Spencer says into the camera.

"But that's why I love her!" Freddie responds. He quickly rephrases this. "That's why we love her!"

Carly and Spencer continue the show, not thinking about Freddie's slip up.


	3. Chapter 3

After the show, Carly and Spencer celebrate a job well done with a mini-party of sorts in the kitchen. Carly walks over to the fridge. "Peppy Cola anyone?"

"Toss me one." Spencer says as he sits next to Freddie, who is at the computer, on the iCarly website. Carly throws the can to Spencer, but he misses in catching it. It flies by his head and bounces a bit on the ground.

Carly opens hers and smiles a little. "Sorry."

"No problem." Spencer gets up off the stool and goes to pick up the can. After grabbing it, he walks back to the stool and prepares to open it, not thinking about it being shaken up.

Freddie stops him. "Dude, I wouldn't do that."

"Oh...right." Spencer sets the can down and looks at the computer on the counter. "So, how many views did we get?"

Freddie clicks on something and his jaw practically drops on the ground. "Guys, we had more views than ever! It's amazing."

"No way, really?" Carly walks around the counter and to the computer. "Oh my God, this is amazing. How did we do that?"

"Apparently the people love Spencer." Freddie scrolls down to the comment area.

"You're welcome, guys." Spencer picks up the can, but Carly takes it from him before he can open it and make a mess. "Ahh...I keep forgetting."

Freddie keeps scrolling down in the comment area. "And we have more comments than ever too."

Carly is now intrigued by the number of comments, wondering what some of them say. "Read some of them, Freddie."

"Okay," Freddie goes up and picks a few out. "_'We love Spencer, he's so funny!'_ Oh, here's another, _'It was really funny when Spencer got choked by that crazy bot, too bad its head exploded.'_"

"Yeah, it's not the first time." Spencer reaches for the Peppy Cola, but Carly harshly slaps his hand. He quickly draws it back and kisses it a bit.

"Oh, and I like this one!" Freddie says before he reads it. "_'Spencer is so much better than Sam. You should bring him back next time.'_ I agree with the first part in many ways." Freddie says, though slightly uncertain about how he feels about Sam now. He closes out of the website and gets up to get a drink.

"Wow, they really love you." Carly says to Spencer.

"I love me too." Spencer stares at his soda in great thirst. He starts to reach for it. "Can I have my soda now?"

"Fine, Mr. Thirsty." Carly hands Spencer the soda and runs to Freddie to avoid the burst of soda from the can.

"Oh, relax." Spencer opens the can, nothing happens. No massive burst of soda. "See, everything is," The can now erupts with a massive stream of soda, in a freakish delay of carbonation. Carly and Freddie watch as Spencer gets covered in Peppy Cola. "Never mind."

"Are you okay?" Carly asks, worried.

Spencer licks his lips a bit. "I'm sticky."

Carly jokes around, "I gathered that, yes."

"I'm going to go change now." Spencer walks to his room, sad and sticky.

The phone rings and Freddie goes to answer it as Carly decides to clean up Spencer's mess. "Hello?"

Sam is on the other end. "Oh, it's you. Can I speak to Carly?"

"Why don't you want to speak to me?"

"Because I hate you. Carly, now." Sam demands.

"You don't hate me, I saw that pic--"

Sam blows the airhorn into the phone, followed by a very loud yell of, "Give the phone to Carly, nerd-boy!"

Freddie runs over and gives it to Carly. "It's for you." He rubs his ear in pain.

"Here, take over" Carly puts the rag in his hand and talks to Sam. "Sam? Did you see the show?"

"I sure did. Great job. Except for spying on me part."

"Yeah, that was Freddie's doing."

Freddie stops cleaning for a second to shout "Hey!"

"Oh, keep scrubbing!" Carly says in response. "You didn't look at the comment section, did you?"

"No, I was just about to. Hold on."

"No, you don't need to." Carly tries to stop her friend from seeing something that could be devastating to her. "That's not necces--"

"Wow. Look at all those comments...about Spencer. They really dug him, huh? Only a few about missing me..."

"Sam, it's just a one time thing."

"Yeah, one time thing. No big deal, really." A slight tone of disappointment can be heard in Sam's voice.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, yeah. Everything will be back to normal next time. I gotta go, bye Carly."

"Bye, Sam." Carly puts the phone on the receiver.

Freddie gets up and tosses the rag in the sink. "So, did she watch the show?"

"Yeah," Carly says quietly.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing. Nothing." Freddie pats her on the shoulder and walks to the couch. "I hope..." She says to herself.

Spencer walks in, wearing a new shirt and using a towel to dry his hair. "Who was that?"

"Sam." Carly says as she walks over to the couch.

"Oh, did she like the show?" Spencer sits in the chair and continues to dry the hair.

"I think so, yeah." Carly says with a bit of uncertainty. "You were great, Spencer."

"Thanks. I really enjoyed being on the show again. If you ever need me again, I'd be willing to go on."

Carly nods her head slowly. "Great..."

Spencer walks to the counter and grabs the soda can that previously exploded on him. He attempts to drink out of it, but nothing comes out. "Aww, it's empty. I'll just get another." He walks to the fridge and grabs another can. "I'll give the top a few taps just in case." He taps the top three times. "There, now it's nice and s--" That can explodes on him. Carly and Freddie stare at Spencer. "Safe. How did that even happen?!" Spencer throws the can in the trash and starts to walk away, only to slip in the soda and fall on the ground. His hand pops into the air, palm out. "I'm okay! No worries!"


	4. Chapter 4

A day passed after the iCarly webcast, and the time for school came.

Carly is at her locker, putting some books away. Freddie walks up. "Hey. Is Sam back?"

"No, I think she's still sick." Carly closes her locker and turns around. "Let's check." She stops Gibby as he walks by. "Hey, Gibby. How are you?"

"Great! Never been better." Gibby whistles happily as he walks away to class.

"Yeah, she's not here. Gibby would be crying by now because Sam gave him a wedgie or something." Carly leans up against her locker.

Freddie paces a bit, then stops to face Carly. "I hope she's okay."

"What?" Carly is very shocked by this niceness towards Sam. "Since when?"

"Can't a guy feel bad for one of his friends?" Freddie looks around the school. All the boys that Sam ever encountered are now smiling and whistling or humming happily. "The school sure is happier without her, it seems."

Carly has a confused expression on her face now. "How do they all know the same tune?"

"I don't know." Freddie walks off to class alongside Carly.

"Great show!" A boy says as he passes them by. "Spencer rules!"

"Thanks." Carly says. "Freddie?"

"Yeah?"

"I have this feeling." Carly thinks for how she wants to express herself.

"Finally, you feel it too! For too long I--you're talking about something else, aren't you?" Freddie's face practically screams disappointment now.

"Yes, Freddie. I'm talking about our show. I have this strange feeling that maybe putting Spencer on it wasn't a good idea."

"What do you mean?" Freddie regains his composure. "It was our best show yet. What bad could come of this?"

"Yeah...yeah, you're right." Carly and Freddie walk into the classroom and go to their seats.

Meanwhile, at the Shay apartment, Spencer works on a new sculpture that stands in the living room. It is a giant hand with two eyes on it. He has all but the fingertips completed, but it isn't painted at all yet. "Okay, Mr. Hand. Now I'm going to give you a friendly smile, that way people won't be scared of you. They'll love you and give you high fives, yes." As he starts to paint on a smile, there is a knock on the door. This causes Spencer to loose his focus and smear the paint, turning the smile into a angry frown. "Awww, man!" He runs to the door and opens it.

Sam is standing there. "Hey."

"Hey." Spencer thinks for a few seconds. "Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

"I'm still sick." Even though Sam's voice sounds less sickly than it did when they last heard from her.

"You sound fine to me."

"Yeah, the school doesn't need to know this, okay? Can I come in?"

Spencer moves out of the way for her to walk in. "Of course."

Sam takes a few steps in, but stops abruptly when she sees the giant hand. "Ummm...why is there a giant, angry hand in your living room?"

Spencer shuts the door and walks to his sculpture. "It's my next sculpture. I call it: Eye Five!"

"Clever." Sam plops on the couch.

Spencer tilts his head as he looks at Sam. "Well, now that you're feeling better, you can do iCarly again."

"Yeah...about that." Sam scratches her head a bit. "I read all the comments and saw all the hits. You were great."

Spencer sits next to Sam, but not too close as he doesn't want to get sick. "Thanks!"

Sam starts to pull a tissue out of her pocket, though she may not be needing it for her sickness. "Looks like you had fun on the show."

"Yeah, it was a blast! Except for the robot's head exploding." Spencer takes the tissue and wipes his eyes. "It made me sad."

"I blew my nose into that."

Spencer quickly tosses it to the ground. "Ew."

"But the real reason I'm here is that," Sam chokes up a bit. "I think you should do iCarly from now on."

"What?" Spencer asks quietly.

"Well, the people love you. More than they do me, that's for sure." Sam holds back her tears, trying to be strong.

"Sam, you and Carly are best friends." He scoots closer, not caring about getting sick at this point. "You and Carly made iCarly, I could never replace you."

"Apparently the people think you can. And...iCarly gives the people what they want." Sam gets up and slowly walks to the door.

Spencer gets up. "Sam, wait."

Sam just opens the door and leaves. When she closes the door, she leans up against it for a few seconds, then leaves.

"Carly is not gonna like this." Spencer says to himself. Suddenly his giant hand falls on top of Spencer. "Insult to injury. Ow..." He struggles to get up, but can't. "Help?" He shouts, no one is around to help. "Not good."


	5. Chapter 5

The school day is now over. Freddie's mom drives them home. The ride home is uncomfortable at best, as Freddie's mom wouldn't stop talking about her son. Freddie and Carly walk up to the doors of her apartment, while Mrs. Benson looks for a parking space that is quote 'impossible for gorillas to steal the car'

"It was nice of your mom to drive us home, but did she have to drive 10 miles an hour all the way here?" Carly asks as she opens the door.

Freddie explains his mom's weirdness as best he can, but it isn't as weird as the real thing. "She doesn't like driving fast. She says we could hit a turtle and flip over."

"At the rate we were going, the turtle could outrun us." They enter the apartment and see Spencer on the ground, under the giant hand. Carly sees this and is worried about her older, accident prone brother. "Oh my God, are you okay?"

Freddie closes the door. "Do you need help?"

Spencer attempts to move, but is unable under the giant hand. The hand has pinned him to the ground. "Oh, all I can get." Spencer says weakly.

Freddie and Carly run over and pick up the giant hand and set it back up.

"Thank you." Spencer, now hating his own creation, looks at the hand. "He high-fived me, right to the ground." Spencer stares at the hand a bit and turns to Carly. "Mrs. Benson give you guys a ride home?"

"Yeah, slowly but surely." Carly responds. Carly looks at the hand, wondering why it has a angry, messy frown on it. "Why is your hand so angry?"

"Oh, Sam came here and distracted me. It was supposed to be a smile, but now my hand hates me."

Carly walks to the kitchen and grabs a soda. "Sam? She was here?" Carly wonders why Sam might have been at the apartment, but not at school.

Freddie realizes that his thought was correct, that she was indeed skipping school and playing hooky. "I knew she was skipping!"

"Yeah, maybe you should sit down." Spencer sits on the couch. He turns to the giant hand. He talks to it as if it can hear him. "I'm watching you."

Carly sits next to Spencer. "Why? What's the matter?"

"Got some news?" Freddie sits next to Carly. He can't help but think what the news might be.

"Yes, of the bad variety." Spencer takes a breath before he tells them of Sam's departure from the show. "Sam quit iCarly."

Carly stands up in shock. And in disbelief that her best friend left the show. "What?! She can't quit iCarly!"

"Yeah! She may be mean, aggressive, rude, food obsessed," Freddie stops. "Why is this bad again?"

Carly turns to Freddie. "She helped make iCarly what it is today."

"Yeah, what she said!" Freddie shouts. _"And, well, I might like her..."_ Freddie's thoughts are now conflicting, not knowing who he likes and what's going to happen to the show.

"Well, what are you guys going to do?" Spencer asks, looking at the hand. He is concerned about iCarly, yet angry at the hand.

Carly goes and picks up the phone. "I'm going to call her!" She dials Sam's phone. Sam doesn't pick up. She is most likey avoiding Carly's calls, still upset about the show. "She's not answering."

Freddie walks over to Carly. "What are we going to do now?"

"I don't know..." Carly starts to go upstairs, very upset and worried. She needs to contemplate. "I need some time to think, Freddie."

"Yeah, okay. So I'll see you later, then?" Freddie asks as he walks towards the door.

"Sure." Carly mumbles as she walks upstairs. She didn't feel like saying bye to Freddie, she wants to be alone.

Freddie leaves and runs into his mom. "Freddie, where were you? She asks in her crazy, worried tone. But this is her usual tone, really.

Freddie tries to explain. "I was talking to Carly, mom. I told you I was going to."

"I thought you were kidnapped by a hobo!" Mrs. Benson grabs his arm to take him to their apartment. "Tell me next time when you do something like this." She opens the door.

"But I did!"Freddie tries to pry himself loose, but it is no use.

"No excuses! Now, time for your tick bath." She pulls Freddie into the apartment.

"No!" Freddie shouts as the door shuts. His frantic screams can be heard, even if the door is shut.


	6. Chapter 6

As the day went by, Carly thought of ways to get Sam back, but came up with nothing other than talking to her. That's what she decided to do. Freddie, after de-ticking, couldn't help but think about Sam. Not about her role on the show, but about her. She is in his head. Well, she was always there, but this time it's a good thing. But he also thinks about Carly. Sam or Carly? He can't have both. Spencer avoided the giant hand for the rest of the day as to not get crushed again. He is afraid of his own creation.

...

School time rolls around. Carly gets a ride from Freddie's mom again. Freddie and Carly enter the school to see Sam at her locker. She is back at school only because she needed to get away from her mom. She easily could've spent another day or two at home, but that would mean she had to spend those days with her mother. School is the better option to her.

Carly walks up to her locker and sets her backpack down. Freddie goes to his locker and deals with the wrestlers that have lockers near him. She opens the locker and greets Sam, hoping that she'll talk to her. "Welcome back!"

Sam looks at Carly and smiles. "Hey Carly girl." She shuts the locker and starts to walk away.

Carly manages to stop her to talk. "Sam, I want to talk to you."

Sam turns around. "Okay, 'bout what?"

Carly gets right down to the matter. "iCarly. Spencer told me that you quit. How could you do that? iCarly is our thing!"

"Apparently it's not. It's yours and Spencer's thing according to the fans. Look, it's better this way. You and him can have some brother-sister time. It's all right"

"No, no it's not. I want to do iCarly with you, not Spencer. We started iCarly together, you can't just leave."

"I'm doing what's best for the fans, Carls. We can still be friends!" Gibby passes by and, unfortunately for him, Sam sees him. "I'll talk to you later, okay?" She turns to Gibby and smiles evilly. "Hey Gibby!" She says in a singsong voice.

"That voice..." He turns around and he looks as though he's seen a ghost. "Coconuts!" He says before he runs away to avoid Sam.

Sam chases him down the hall. "Gibby! Don't run from me! Gibby! Take your wedgie like a man!"

Freddie walks up to Carly. "Any luck with Sam?" He fixes his hair as the wrestlers once again put him in the middle of their fight.

"No." The bell rings. Class is about to start. "Let's go to class, we'll talk to her later."

Back at the apartment, Spencer is working on his giant hand. He has conquered his fear, so to speak. Spencer has cleaned off the angry frown. He picks up his paintbrush to repaint the smile. "Okay, take two Mr. Hand. Just relax, things are about to get happy." There is a knock at the door and Spencer once again messes up and paints a frown on the face. Only this time it looks angrier. "Awww! Again?" He runs to the door and opens it. A bunch of girls are standing there. "Can I help you?"

"We love you Spencer!" A bunch of them say. They hold out some paper and pictures for autographs.

Spencer is at a loss for words. "Well, thank you. I'm a little busy at the moment, but," The girls storm the apartment and look around. "come in." Spencer says as he shuts the door. He turns and sees them at the hand. "Be careful!" He runs and stands in front of it. "He's been known to attack."

The girls laugh and stare at Spencer. "He's so funny."

"He's so cute."

"I love his hair!"

A loud quack emerges from the fangirls constant adoring. Spencer realizes immediately who this is, a voice from the past. "Oh no."

Mandy. She has left the band that she so loved and, after seeing the webshow, is in love with Spencer. Mandy runs up and hugs Spencer. "I love you! I'm your biggest fan, do you remember me? I remember you. I love you." She tightens her grip on Spencer.

"How could I forget?" Spencer tries to pull Mandy off, but to no avail.

A few hours pass, it's lunch time at school now. Sam sits at a table alone eating pudding. Carly walks up and sits next to her. "Sam?" She says in a quiet voice.

"Hey Carly." Sam licks the remaining pudding out of the container and tosses it into her pudding container pile. She has eaten at least six of them since lunch has started. "What's up?"

Carly flat out asks this time, in desperation. "Come back to the show."

"Carly, I told you, you and Spencer can do the show." Sam gets up and starts to walk away, not wanting to say any more on the matter.

Carly pulls out a tuna sandwich out of her lunch, the very thing that started their friendship.

Sam smells it and sits back down, drawn to the food. "You think you can buy me back with food?" Sam takes the sandwich, Carly takes this as a yes.

Carly opens her arms for a hug. "Welcome back, Sam."

"I'm not coming back," Carly's arms drop at this statement. "I just wanted the sandwich." Sam gets up, grabs her backpack and walks away.

Carly slams her head against the table, causing the pudding cup pile to fall to the ground. A teacher walks by. "No littering, you have detention missy!"

She groans and shakes her head. Freddie sits next to her. "Didn't get her back?"

"No," Carly doesn't lift up her head. She's too sad to do that. "And I have detention!"

Freddie tries to help cheer her up by rubbing her back. "Hey, now you can talk to Sam there."

"How do you know she's going to have detention?" Carly asks, still muffled by the table.

Carly then realizes who they are talking about here. "Sam." They both say at the same time.

Back at the apartment, all the girls have left but Mandy. She wanders around as he works on the Hand. He cleans off the frown. "All right, time to make you a happy hand." He picks up the paintbrush.

Mandy sneaks up behind him. She watches for a few seconds before shouting, "Hey Spencer!"

He shrieks and paints on a frown in shock. "Oh come on!" He turns around and looks into her eyes. "Go. Home." He says slowly.

She hugs him and smiles. "I am home!"

"I...I don't like the sound of that." Spencer wonders what she possibly could've meant by this.


	7. Chapter 7

After the school day is over, Carly heads towards the room detention is in. She hopes to talk to Sam, if the teacher leaves the room, that is. And since Mrs. Briggs is the monitor for this day's detention, that seems very unlikely.

Freddie waits by the door. He sees Carly coming towards the room and picks up his backpack, placing it on his right shoulder. "Hey, have fun in detention."

"With Mrs. Briggs, that isn't going to happen." Freddie starts to walk away. "Hey, aren't you going to wait for me to get out?"

"No can do, my mom wants to get home before 4:00. She says that's the time the ticks wake up. I'll tell Spencer to come and get you, okay?" He opens the door to outside, his mom's frantic honking can be heard.

"Alright then, bye!"

"See ya." He heads outside and to his mom's car, stopping the annoying honking.

Carly enters the detention room. It's seats practically filled. She looks for Sam, who doesn't appear to be there. Unusual for Sam not to be in detention. Carly takes a seat. _"Oh...where is she?"_

Briggs walks in with her usual frown on her face. "Students!" She slams her books on the desk and everyone sits up in their seats immediately. She glares at them. "Because all you horrible children refuse to follow the rules of the school, you will sit here in detention and think about what you've done."

Carly raises her hand. "Mrs. Briggs?"

"No talking!" She snaps back quickly.

"But I have a question," Carly places her hand back on the desk and asks "where's Sam?"

"Miss Puckett did not get detention today, surprised?" She chuckles, then returns to the frown. "Me too. Now, no talking!" Briggs walks to her chair and sits down. She watches over them like a hawk, making sure no one makes a sound.

"Awww..." Carly sadly puts her head down on her desk.

"And no 'awww'ing!" Briggs shouts.

_"Awww..."_ Carly says in her head instead. _"The one day Sam doesn't get detention!"_

About thirty minutes later, back at the apartment, Spencer talks to the fangirls who have gathered around him on the couch.

"...And that's how I got my hand out of the bee hive. The lesson here? Always buy honey at the store. Because going to the hive will get you stingers in your hand." He gets up and goes to the door. "Now," Spencer opens the door and gestures them to get out. "I have stuff to do."

As the girls leave, one turns and asks. "What kind of stuff?"

Spencer can't think what he wants to say. "Stuff-y...stuff." Spencer shuts the door on them and sighs in relief.

He turns and almost jumps out of his skin when he sees Mandy behind him. "Hiiiii." She says in a creepy fashion.

"I thought I told you to leave."

"No, you told them to leave!" She starts coming towards him, holding her arms out for a hug. "I'm here to stay."

"No, you're here to _leave._" Spencer opens the door.

"Silly Spence, you know you want me here!" She hugs him once again.

"Not really, no." He pulls her off of him and opens the door.

"What are you saying?"

"Please. Leave." Spencer tries to push her out, but she quickly moves, causing Spencer to fall to the ground.

Mandy runs to Spencer's room and looks around.

Spencer sighs and starts to get up. "Maybe I was too vague." Freddie, home from school, walks to the doors of his apartment. "Hey, Freddo!" Spencer waves in a goofy manner.

Freddie opens the door and turns around. "You okay there Spencer?"

"Oh, yeah, I just kinda fell...hard." Spencer gets up and looks down the hall for his sister. "Where's Carly?"

"She's in detention. Don't worry, not her fault."

"Oh, good." Spencer and Freddie stand there, silent for a few seconds before Spencer realizes that Carly has no way home. "Oh, I should go get her!"

Freddie nods slowly. "Yeah. See you later."

"See ya, Freddo!" Spencer shouts as Freddie closes the door to his apartment. He runs into his apartment, grabs his keys to his motorcycle and heads out to go get Carly.

When he does arrive at the school, Carly is out in the parking lot, waiting. She sees Spencer approach and waves to him.

Spencer rides up to her and tosses her a helmet. "I'm here!"

"I see you!" Carly responds as she places the helmet on her head.

"Sorry I'm a little late, me and Lewbert got in a fight when I got to the lobby."

Carly hops on the back of the motorcycle. "What for?"

"Does Lewbert ever need a reason to pick a fight?" Spencer starts to drive out of the parking lot.

"Good point." Carly fastens the helmet. "Thanks for the ride."

"No prob, lil sis!" They exit the parking lot and go down the street. "So, did you get Sam back on the show?"

"No, no luck. Maybe you can talk to her!"

Spencer shakes his head. "Tried that, no good. Hey!"

"Hey what?"

"Maybe Freddie can convince her."

"Yeah, maybe...but they'd probably end up fighting if he tried. Those two don't exactly like each other."

"It's worth a shot, though! You've got nothing to lose."

"You're right, thanks."

"No--" A bug flies in his mouth before he could say 'problem'. Spencer coughs a few times.

Carly laughs a bit, but then is a little concerned. "Another bug?"

"Uh-huh!" Spencer spits. "This is why we shouldn't talk on the motorcycle!" He wipes his mouth rapidly.

When the two get back to their apartment, the lights are dimmed and there is a dinner on the table. "Wow, look at that." Carly shuts the door and starts to walk to the dinner table. "Did you do this, Spencer?"

Spencer throws his keys on the counter and sits on a stool. "No, I don't know who--"

Mandy pops up from behind the counter, scaring Spencer and causing him to fall of the stool. "I made it!"

"Of course you did." Spencer says from the ground.

"You?!" Carly is in shock at the fact Mandy is back. She though she was rid of Mandy forever. "Why are you here?"

"For Spencer." Mandy runs and helps him up. "I'd do anything for him."

"So you made us food?" Carly starts to take a seat, but is stopped by Mandy.

"No, I made _him_ food. That other plate is mine. You can make your own food." Mandy leads Spencer to the table and seats him.

"Well!" Carly goes to the fridge and looks for food.

Spencer starts to eat, but stops as he sees Mandy practically drooling over him. "I feel uncomfortable with this." He sets his fork down and scoots his chair out.

Mandy jumps up. "Food giving you gas? I have something for that!"

"Lovely." Carly comments as she pulls out a watermelon from the fridge.

"No...no. I'm uncomfortable with you watching me." He takes his plate and heads to his room. "I'm going to eat in my room."

Mandy follows him. "I'll join you!"

"No!" Spencer shouts and runs in his room. He slams the door. A few seconds later he opens the door and walks out, carrying Mandy. He sets her down outside his room. He runs back and slams the door on her and locks it.

Carly picks at the watermelon and laughs a little at this.

Mandy runs over and spouts out, "Is your brother single?"

The watermelon that Carly had in her mouth is immediately spit out in shock. "What?!"

"I'll take that as a yes!" Mandy backs up a bit. "Uh-oh, I feel a quack or two coming on! Quack, quack, quack!" She waddles around the room quacking. Carly looks down and eats her watermelon, trying to ignore her quacking.

Freddie walks in to talk to Carly. He sees Mandy waddling and quacking. He backs out of the room slowy, shutting the door as he does.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the delay, here's the next part! Hope it's worth the wait, iSub fans!**

* * *

Another day passes, and the time for the next iCarly webcast is close at hand. Carly sees Freddie's talking to Sam as their last resort, yet is still hopeful for the future. Freddie thinks of this attempt to be absolutely futile, as Sam never listens to him. Although, there is a slight chance now seeing as he knows about her liking him...

It's bright and early in the morning, meaning Sam will most likely be cranky. Freddie enters the school and walks to some lockers, and sees Sam at hers putting some books away and eating some beef jerky. "_Of course..._" He thinks. He slowly approaches her, wondering what to say. _"Okay, Fredward, be careful. Watch your words carefully, you don't want to be attacked again." _Freddie eventually arrives at Sam's locker and smiles, causing Sam to stop eating and stare at him.

"What do you want?" She says with a mouthful of jerky. Sam never likes to be annoyed this early in the morning, so Freddie might just be in danger.

"Good morning to you too." Freddie clears his throat. "Look, it's about iCarly."

Sam slams her locker and slings her backpack over her shoulder. "How many times to I have to tell you people, I'm not coming back!" Sam shakes her jerky in Freddie's face. "Leave..it...alone."

"No, we need you back."

"No you don't. Spencer is better, the people say so." Sam walks past him to get to her class. "Just leave me alone already."

"_No better time than now..._" Freddie takes a breath and gathers some nerve. "I know you like me."

Sam stops dead in her tracks she slowly turns around to Freddie, fuming. She gets right in his face. "Get this straight nerd boy: not now, not ever!" Sam takes a bite of her remaining jerky and shoves the wrapper down Freddie's shirt. "Got it straight?!" She walks to her class in a huff.

Freddie takes out the wrapper out of his shirt and looks at it. "_I think the question is...when will you get it straight?_" Freddie sees Carly head towards her locker and goes over to her. He leans on the locker next to her. "Hey."

Carly sets her stuff down and turns to him. "I saw you talking to Sam, did she agree to come back?"

"Naw...and she shoved jerky wrappers down my shirt." Freddie crumples the wrapper up and tosses it at the trashcan in the corner of the hall, but misses. "What are we going to do now?"

"I don't know." Carly walks over and picks up the wrapper. As she is about to throw it in the trashcan she reads the label and is struck with an idea. "_Jerky...that's it!_"Carly runs back to Freddie and waves the wrapper in his face. "I got it!"

"Yeah...now throw it away."

"No, not this! An idea. If Spencer can make himself look like a jerk on iCarly, people will stop liking him and want Sam back!" Carly picks up her stuff just as the bell rings. She tosses the wrapper in the trash and shuts her locker.

"I like it," Freddie stops to think for a few seconds. "But how are we going to make Spencer look like a jerk?"

Carly smiles and starts to head to class, Freddie follows. "Oh, I think we can leave that to Spencer."

Meanwhile, back at the apartment, Spencer is once again attempting to paint on a smile on his giant hand. "Okay, this time, think happy. Think happy." Spencer reaches forward to paint it on.

Mandy enters the apartment and spots Spencer. "Ooh, what'cha doing?"

Spencer just barely misses hitting his giant hand because of the surprise. "Painting." Spencer turns and looks at Mandy. "Why are you here?"

"I just wanted to say hi!"

"Well...you said it, now bye-bye." Spencer turns and resumes painting.

"Aww...someone's a grumpy Gus!" Mandy runs to him and hugs him.

Spencer, out of anger, slams his hand down on the table next to him. Unfortunately, there is a bucket of paint there. His hand is now covered in red paint. He turns and Mandy releases. "Look! You need to go home!" He waves his hands around angrily as he speaks, splattering paint on the giant hand. "You can't keep coming here!"

"Of course I can!" Mandy hugs him again. "You love me...and I caught you red handed!" Mandy points to his red painted hand and laughs nasally, snorting every now and again.

"Awww...I red myself." Spencer turns and lets out an even bigger 'aww' at the sight of a very messy angry frown on his giant hand. "Come on!" He scratches his head a bit. "How many times do I have...wait. What hand did I just..." He takes his hand off his head and sees he just got red in his hair. "I'm red now. And sad." Spencer walks to his room and slams the door.

Mandy runs to it and knocks on the door. "Somebody needs a hug!"

"Why won't you go home?"

Hours later, the school day ends and Carly and Freddie decide to talk to Sam one more time before they go through with Operation: Spencer. They see Sam at her locker and approach her. Carly is the first to say something. "Sam?"

"Oh hey Carls," Sam looks at Freddie and frowns. "dork."

"Sam, we're going to ask you one more time." Carly grabs Sam's hands and grasps onto them. "Please, please come back. We need you."

"No...I can't upset the viewers." Sam removes Carly's hands and grabs her backpack. "I gotta go, mom's waiting. Don't want her driving through the doors of the school just because she doesn't want to miss a few minutes of Dr. Phyllis." Sam heads for the doors.

"Well, you'll at least watch iCarly tonight, won't you?" Carly asks as Sam opens up the doors.

"Of course I will, what kind of a friend would I be if I didn't?" Sam leaves the school and head out to her mom's constantly honking car.

The two teens look at each other. "Operation Spencer?" Freddie asks.

"Yup, Operation Spencer." Carly and Freddie exit the school, walking to Freddie's mom's car.

After the annoying ride home with Mrs. Benson, the two make it to Carly's apartment. As Carly opens the door, they see Spencer's giant hand standing there. "Is it just me, or is that thing angrier than before?" Carly says as she tosses her backpack to the ground.

Freddie shuts the door and goes to the kitchen. "Where's Spencer, anyway?"

"In my room!" Spencer shouts from his room. He is laying in his bed, curled up in a ball. He shouts once more. "Is she gone?"

Carly walks up to the door to his room. "Who?"

"Mandy." Spencer responds.

Carly looks at Freddie, who just shrugs his shoulders. "Yeah, she's gone."

Spencer jumps out of the bed and opens the door. "Good." He exits and shuts the door again. "What's up?" His mood changing from sad to happy in a snap.

"I've got a plan to get Sam back. Come on, let's get ready for iCarly." Carly runs upstairs and stops for Freddie. "Coming, Freddie?"

"I'm going to get a drink, I'll meet you up there." Freddie says as he opens the fridge.

"Okay. Let's go Spencer." Carly and Spencer walk up the stairs and go to the iCarly studio.

Freddie grabs a drink and hit the button on the wall for the elevator. When it opens he sees Mandy there.

She waves wildly and smiles. "Hi Freddie!"

Freddie quickly hits the button to make the elevator go back up, causing the door to shut on the elevator. He turns to the stairs and points to them. "I'll take the stairs."


	9. Chapter 9

**And now, chapter nine. Once again, the line breaks later on represent different segments of the webshow. Seddie fans, the ending to this chapter is for you! I hope you like it as much as I do. **

Up in the iCarly studio, several minutes later, Spencer and Carly stand in their spots warming up for the show. Spencer cracks his neck a few times and adjusts his socks. Carly sips her water and sets it down near her foot. "So, you know what to do, right Spencer?" Carly asks, to make sure Spencer knows what to do. After all, if they can't get Sam back with this...iCarly's future is bleak.

"Of course" Spencer pauses for a second in thought "be a jerk, right?"

"Yes, just follow my lead and it'll be fine." Carly looks behind her, almost like she was paranoid. "Hey, where's Mandy? She's been all obsessive with you lately, you'd think she'd be here."

Freddie enters from the door to the stairway. "She's in the elevator." He goes to his computer and gets it ready for the show.

"Then she's on her way up here?" Spencer asks with a slight sense of urgency. He runs to the elevator. "But I don't hear it coming."

"Oh, I stopped it." Freddie says, not looking up from his computer.

"Freddie, that's so...Sam-ish." Carly laughs a little.

Freddie looks up and stutters a bit. "Can we just move on and do the show please?"

"Well..." Carly grabs Sam's blue sound effect remote and tosses it to Spencer. "Ready?"

"Ready, Freddie!" Spencer turns to Freddie. "Not you, the phrase. But yes, are you ready Fred-o?"

Freddie shakes his head and presses a button. Freddie picks up the camera and walks in front of Carly and Spencer. "In 5, 4, 3, 2" He points to them, signaling them to go.

"Well hello people of Earth, welcome to our show that we like to call," Carly looks at Spencer.

Spencer double takes at Carly. "What?"

"iCarly." She says flatly. "This is iCarly."

Spencer abruptly pops in. "Yup!"

"Before we begin, we have a special poll." Spencer begins to wander off camera, Carly pulls him back in quickly. "After the show, we want you to vote on who's a better host: Spencer," Carly pulls his head down into the shot and quickly pushes it out. "or Sam. Vote after the show! And speaking of the show, Spencer, why don't you tell the people what we have in store?"

Spencer stares at the camera for a bit, then turns to Carly. "I forgot."

"We just went over this, Spencer." Carly says, annoyed.

"Yeah, but I kinda...sorta, wasn't paying attention."

"Well maybe you should've kinda, sorta paid attention!" Carly turns to the camera and smiles. "Sorry about that, Spencer has been a little distracted lately what with the return of--."

"Me!" Mandy's voice rings out from the elevator shaft. The door opens up slightly and Mandy crawls out and stands up. "Am I late for the show?"

Spencer frowns, but quickly puts on a fake smile and sarcasm. "Hey, you climbed up the elevator shaft and pried the door open....yay."

"Yup!" Mandy brushes off the dust and runs to Spencer. "I wouldn't miss your webshow for the world!"

"His web show?" Carly and Freddie say in unison.

* * *

"And next up, we have a video of,"

Spencer claps a bit, interrupting her. "I love this part of the show!"

"Yes, that's good."

"Me too!" Mandy yells from the Seat Of Sitting.

"Anyway, this video is of a little girl who can floss her teeth...with her feet! Take a look. Freddie?"

Freddie walks to his computer and pushes a button to make the tv screen come out from the wall. Mandy turns and views it as well.

The girl on the screen waves. "Hi iCarly! I'm going to floss my teeth with my feet."

Spencer laughs. "There's no way she can," Spencer is proved wrong even before he can finish his sentence. "Look at her go!"

Carly turns and shushes him. "Spencer, shh."

"Why? It's just a video."

"Yeah, a video I'm trying to watch!" Cary whips back around and resumes watching.

"You can watch it anytime."

Mandy gets up and runs over to Spencer. "I'll talk to you!"

"No, that's okay. I'll just--" Mandy hugs him. "Oh, why with the hugging?"

Carly turns around. "Guys, video."

"She's strangling me!" Spencer shouts as he tries to shake loose.

"Hugging." Carly corrects.

"Same thing In this case. Get off!" Spencer pulls her off. "No more hugs! No more! What part of 'go away', 'go home', 'get away', and 'no' don't you get?!"

Mandy takes a step back. "I thought you were cool, but now I see..." She kicks him in the shin, causing Spencer to hit the ground. "You're just a big jerky-head!"

"Jerky-head?" Carly says, repeating the horrible yet ironic insult. "_Well, that didn't exactly go as I planned...but it works._"

She goes to the elevator and presses the button, then realizes it isn't working. "I'll take the stairs!" She opens the door and leaves the studio.

Freddie pushes a button on the computer, making the tv screen go back onto the wall.

Carly looks at her fallen brother, then turns to the camera and thinks for a few seconds. "Moving on,"

* * *

"Well, that does it for this...interesting episode of iCarly." Carly says with a bit of hesitation. "Anything to add, Spencer?"

Spencer limps on camera. "My shin hurts."

"Okay then! Don't forget iCarly viewers, go to the polls now to vote for your favorite host! Bye!"

"Bye everyone." Spencer mumbles quietly as he limps to the door to the stairs.

"And...we're out." Freddie sets down the camera. "Good show, everyone."

Spencer opens the door, then turns around with a smile on his face. "So, how'd I do?"

"Great! Mandy coming in was even better than what I had planned." Carly walks over to her brother and pats him on the back. "Your shin okay?"

"No." Spencer says quite frankly, yet maintaining his grin.

"Let's go downstairs for some iced tea."

Spencer shakes his head a bit. "Just ice for me."

"No tea?"

"No that too, but mainly ice for my shin." Carly and Spencer laugh and head downstairs, followed by Freddie.

When they get down there, they see no sign of Mandy. "Looks like you-know-who's gone." Spencer says as he walks to a stool by the counter and sits. He spots a note on the counter and opens it. "It's from Mandy."

Freddie walks by Spencer and to the fridge. "What does it say?"

Spencer reads from the note. "'Maybe you're not as good as I thought. Farewell my dear Spencer. Signed Mandy. P.S. I still love iCarly.'" Spencer gets off the stool. "She's gone? Yes!" He jumps for joy...literally. Then he quickly sits back down. "Ow. That hurt my shin."

"It still hurts?" Freddie asks as he pulls out a pitcher of iced tea from the fridge.

"Yeah, that girl can kick!"

"Tea, Carly?" Freddie pours a cup of tea for him and Spencer.

"Yeah, thanks." Carly picks up the phone and starts to dial.

"Who are you calling?" Spencer asks as he takes his cup and bag of ice that Freddie also set out.

"Sam. I'm inviting her over." Carly puts the phone to her ear. "Let's hope she'll come back now."

Spencer takes a sip and sets the cup down. "I'm sure she will. There's no way she can say no now."

_A little bit later...._

"No, I'm not coming back." Sam flat out responds. "I told you guys, leave it alone."

Carly, at the computer at the counter, goes to . "Check this out." Sam gets up and slowly goes to the computer. "How can you say no to these results?" Carly points to the poll results. 89% Sam, 11% Spencer.

"Well....that's just for this show." Sam turns to the couch. "Those numbers will go down during the next one."

Freddie shakes his head as he leans on the stairwell. "_Stubborn. Why can't she see that she is needed here?_"

"Sam, come on, we need you."

"No, you don't. I'm going home." Sam runs for the door, but is stopped.

"Sam, wait." Freddie spouts out.

Sam turns around. "Great, you too?"

"I want to talk to you."

Sam shrugs. "Why?"

"Just come upstairs." Freddie goes up the stairs to the studio.

Sam walks to the elevator. "I'll meet you there." She presses a button to make the elevator come to her.

Freddie comes down the stairs a bit to respond. "What?"

"I'm tired, okay. I don't feel like physical activity. Got a problem with that?" Sam enters the elevator.

"Fine." Freddie runs up to the studio. Sam arrives there first and waits for him by the computer cart. He enters and goes to the computer.

"So, we're here. Whoop-de-doo."

"I want to show you something." Freddie goes to the archives of and finds a clip of the first Spencer-hosted webshow. "Take a look. This is when we talked to you when you were sick."

Sam crosses her arms and looks at the screen. "You mean spied on me."

"Whatever, just watch." Freddie plays the clip.

On the screen shows Sam's room. A toilet flushes off camera in the room and Sam walks on and sits on the bed, not knowing she is being watched. She picks up the picture and kisses it. Freddie stops the clip. "I saw you kiss that picture."

Sam shrugs a bit, denying her liking Freddie. "It's a harmless celebrity crush, so what?"

"That celebrity, " Freddie zooms in onto the picture frame. "Is me."

"That's...you don't under..."

Freddie turns to Sam. "You like me. I knew it. There had to me more of a reason than hate for all the insults."

"Well, you're just a...dork."

Freddie shakes his head. "It doesn't bother me anymore, Sam. I know why you're doing it, so I know you don't mean it. Please, come back to the show."

"I...I need time to think, Fredward." Sam puts a hand to her forehead and rubs it a bit. "I gotta go." She starts to go for the door.

"For me, come back." Freddie says, hoping it'll work.

"I just don't know." Sam quietly says as she opens the door.

Freddie walks over and shuts the door so she can't leave. He spins her around and kisses her passionately. When he releases he steps back a bit.

"Take all the time you need, Sam." Freddie leaves the studio and goes downstairs.

Sam stands there, in shock of what just happened.

* * *

**Cliffhanger! Will Sam come back? Or will she not? Find out in Chapter Ten! Coming soon to a computer screen near you...**


	10. Chapter 10

**And now, for the grand finale of iSub For Sam. It's been fun, but it's got to end sometime! Here we go, diving into the minds of everyone and onward...**

* * *

Sam stands in the iCarly studio, in shock. Freddie had just kissed her and left to go downstairs, leaving Sam with her thoughts. _"What..what just happened here? Did he...did he just kiss me or am I having another one of those dreams again? Wait, no, there'd be floating cake if it was a dream...and chili. Man I want some chili now. Cold chili. Ah, focus, Puckett! Freddie just kissed you, there'll be time for food later. And even worse, he knows now. He knows about me liking him. The one thing I thought he'd never find out. If that dork hadn't spied on me this wouldn't be happening. That...that....Freddie. I need food."_

Freddie also collects his thoughts on the matter. _"Well, this is it. Either Sam will be her stubborn self and refuse to come back, ending iCarly or she'll finally realize how important she is here. And this is Sam...so looks like it's back to painting pots with mom. I can hear her yelling to paint straighter already..."_

Carly can't help but asess the situation as well. _"Oh, please Sam, listen to reason. I don't know how much more of this I can take. I love Spencer, but he's no Sam. He's not even a she! Ohh, look at my nails, I've been biting them to the nubs again. I've got hobo nails! Thanks Sam!"_

Spencer is also a bit troubled at the moment, but as usual he is a bit scatterbrained. _"My shin hurts. I wonder where Mandy went, anyway. Ooh, I just remembered I have some cake left in the fridge! I love cake. I like making cakes. I think I'll make one when Sam comes back. I just know she will. Ooh, or maybe cupcakes. They're like cakes, but cuppier!"_

So, after a little bit of thinking, Sam eventually comes down to a decision. She walks down the stairs and sees the gang at the table, talking and drinking tea. She slowly walks over and clears her throat when she stops in front of the table. "Guys, I, uh, have something to say."

Spencer turns to her and smiles. "Lay it on us, Sam!"

"What is it?" Carly asks.

"I've made my decision." Sam lowers her head. "I just can't--"

"Oh come on! After what I did, you're still not--"

Sam quickly lifts her head up to shout at him for interrupting. "I wasn't finished, Freddie!" Freddie sits back, not expecting a somewhat calm retort. No insult, after all. "I just can't not do the show anymore." Sam smiles and hits Carly in the shoulder. "Carls, count me back in!"

Carly jumps up out of her seat. "Really? You mean it?"

"Of course I do. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?" Sam opens her arms and the two hug.

"Awwwww....." Spencer slowly gets up, big goofy smile on his face. "I think this calls for a big 'ol group hug!" He joins the two in hugging.

Freddie follows suit shortly after.

"Look who's one big iCarly family again!" Spencer lets go and claps his hands. "I say we go to the Groovy Smoothie and celebrate with smoothies!"

Carly raises her hand. "I second that!"

"Good enough for me, let's go! I'm buyin!" Spencer runs to the door and leaves the apartment.

Carly turns to Sam and hugs her again, a little shorter this time. "Welcome back."

"It's good to be back, Carls, it's good to be back. I'll see you downstairs, okay?" Carly smiles and goes to catch up with Spencer who is already in the lobby, waiting. Spencer is speedy when it comes to smoothies.

Sam faces Freddie. "Nice act you guys put on there, Spencer trying to be a jerk."

"What do you mean?"

"I knew the Mandy part was real, anyone would go bonkers after five seconds with that chick. But the rest of it," Sam steps up to him. "Poorly acted."

Freddie is a bit confused now, that is certainly showing on his face. "If you knew it was an act, then why did you come back?"

"The viewers said they wanted me back, so I'm back." She leans forward and gives him a kiss. "And for you." Sam quietly says, making sure no one else could possibly hear that.

Freddie takes a few breaths. "So...no more insulting?"

"No, I'll still insult you. We need to keep up appearances, don't we" Sam elbows Freddie in the ribs. "dork?"

"Good idea" Freddie elbows her back. "she-beast."

Sam's smile turns to a frown quickly. "Watch it."

"Sorry."

One week later.....

Carly and Sam goofily dance around a pink top hat in the iCarly studio, music blaring. Sam stomps on the top hat, crushing it. The music stops.

Carly faces the camera. "And that is the Cuckoo, top hat dance we made up!"

Sam hits the applause button on the blue remote and holds it for a few seconds.

"And that's it for today's show, iCarly lovers and or likers." Sam says as she walks up to Carly.

"But before we go," Carly takes the remote from Sam's hands. "Let's give a big round of applause for the return of everyone's favorite, mean-spirited co-host!" She hits the applause button for Sam. Freddie cheers a bit as well for Sam.

"Thanks Carls," Sam looks at Freddie. "and you too I guess, Sir Nerds-A-Lot."

Carly and Sam look at each other and then at the camera. "Bye!" They shout in unison.

"And...we're clear!" Freddie pushes a button on the camera and walks back to the cart. "Great show gang."

Sam takes a breath and sighs. "It's good to be back."

"Well it's good to have you back." Carly hands Sam the remote back. "Even if you were stubborn about it at first."

"It runs in the family." Sam responds. "Just like how my mom refuses to see any movie with a 'w' in it."

"Why is that?" Freddie asks as he opens the door to leave the studio.

"Don't ask me, my mom's cuckoo! Any more questions, dorkwad?"

Freddie gets defensive, but only for show. "That's not a word!"

Sam gets right in his face now. "Oh yeah, well you're not a man!"

Carly steps in between the two. "Hey, stop fighting. Spencer wants us downstairs. He says he's got a surprise for us." She leaves the studio and heads to the first floor.

Sam and Freddie smile at each other. "Nicely done, Sam."

"Thank you, Fredward."

Freddie holds the door for her and follows Sam to the living area where Spencer waits.

Downstairs, Spencer stands next to his giant hand, which is now under a sheet and apparently completed at last. He turns and sees them at the stairs. "Hey, there you are! Great show!"

"Thanks." Carly walks down to the Hand. "Is that your giant hand under there?"

"Yup!" Spencer pulls the sheet off, revealing the hand. It now has a wide, almost Joker-ish smile on it. "See? I finally made it look happy!"

Sam slowly approaches the hand. "Is it just me or is it even creepier now than when it was angry?"

"Hey, I'm just glad I got the thing done. After Mandy left, it was a breeze." Spencer snaps. "And, I've perfected the Spence-bot!"

"Oh no..." Carly quietly says as she sits down on the couch.

"Oh, yes! He is 100% bug free! Socko and I worked 'em all out." Spencer looks towards his room. "Spence-bot, come!"

The Spence-bot walks out from his room, slowly but surely. "See? And he speaks...English this time."

"Hello. My name is Spence-bot. I like pudding." The robot stomps towards the kitchen.

Carly is simply amazed now at the sight of finally functioning robot. "That's amazing!"

"He likes pudding?" Freddie wonders how a robot eats pudding. "Can he eat pudding?"

Spencer laughs. "Silly Freddie, puddings are for people."

Carly looks behind her at her brother. "I never did ask, how did you make that chip for him to speak?"

"Oh, Socko's cousin made the chip." Spencer follows the robot to the kitchen.

"What's his name?" Freddie asks.

Spencer turns and quickly responds. "Chip." He goes to the kitchen and looks through some cabinets.

Carly looks at Sam, and then Freddie. Then back at Spencer. "So...Chip made the chip?"

"Uh-huh." Spencer pulls out some Fringles. "Hey, who wants chips?"

"Only if they're the edible kind." Sam plops down on the couch next to Carly.

Spencer attempts to open the bag, but can't. He stops for a few seconds, then resumes, trying even harder. His face is turning red by now. "I can't get this stupid bag open! Spence-bot!" The robot walks up next to him. "Open bag!" Spencer hands the robot the bag, who opens it with ease and hands it back to Spencer. "I...I loosened it." Spencer slowly pulls a chip out and eats it before going to the couch and joining Carly and Sam. He passes the bag around.

"I'm thirsty," Sam leans forward to talk to Spencer. "do you have any Peppy Cola?"

"Oh, yeah. Spence-bot! Two Peppy-colas, please."

"Yes, Spencer." The robot walks to the fridge and grabs some sodas.

"So, everything is back to normal then." Carly says. "Mandy's gone, Spencer's back to work on his artworks, and Sam is on iCarly again."

"Yup." Freddie relaxes in his chair.

The robot brings Sam the soda, opening it for her. "Your soda."

"Awesome." Sam takes it and immediately starts chugging it.

The robot walks back to the side of the couch where Spencer sits and opens the other soda.

"Oh, thank you--" Spencer reaches for the can, but the robot chugs the soda instead. "Um...okay."

Carly sits up, worried. "Spencer, what does Peppy Cola do to robots?"

"Something bad, I'm sure." Sam says after she crumples up the empty soda can and tosses to the ground.

The Spence bot starts to shake violently. It starts to say random things as it malfunction. "Hobo....cheese....Socks, socks, socks, socks...." The head once again flies off of the body. It lands in the bag of chips that Sam now holds.

Carly looks at Spencer, who is sitting there quietly. "Spencer, are you okay?"

"No...I'm sad." Spencer falls sideways on top of Carly's lap. "Again."

"Yup, back to normal." Carly tries her best to comfort Spencer.

Freddie and Sam just look at each other.

"Should we leave?" Freddie asks, uncomfortable.

"No, I want chips." Sam grabs a handful of chips, after digging around the Spence-bot's head.

The Spence-bot musters up enough energy to say two more words. "Good-bye."

* * *

**Well, there it is. Hope everyone enjoyed the story. I know I sure enjoyed writing it. **

**I just want to thank everyone who reviewed with those awesome reviews. If it weren't for you guys, the story would've never gotten this far. You guys gave me ideas, whether you meant to or not, and I'm glad I went with most of them. There's always a few that just don't fit, of course. But, thanks again for making this my most reviewed story to date. It makes me happy to think I'm making people happy when they read this.**

**So there's that. I also want to say, there's going to be a sequel. I'll be diving further into the Seddieness with it. Hope you all will like that one as much (or more) as this one. **

**But until then,**

**--SBR**


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